One Night of Scandal by Elle Kennedy Page B

painted a picture of a woman who’d been well-sexed.
    It only made him want her even more, but damn it, he wasn’t allowed to. He’d given himself one free pass, thrown good judgment out the window and taken what he wanted. But he couldn’t do it again. Sex with Darcy Grant was no longer on the table.
    Darcy stopped at the door, her forehead creasing. “Now what?”
    Reed puffed out a breath. “Now I go home.”
    “I see.” Zero emotion in her voice, but he sensed her displeasure. “And then what?”
    “And tomorrow afternoon, I’ll be at the school for the second day of the workshop.” He paused. “And tomorrow night, I’m going to talk to AJ.”
    “Talk to him about what?” she said in confusion.
    He shot her a pointed look. “What do you think? I’m going to own up to being a selfish son of a bitch and confess that I slept with his ex-girlfriend. And afterwards, I expect I’ll be rewarded with a black eye, maybe two. Then again, AJ’s a lot deadlier than he looks, so it could be much worse.”
    Darcy’s bewilderment only seemed to get stronger. “But you already told him everything.”
    He frowned. “No, I didn’t.”
    “But…” In the blink of an eye, she dashed to the living room and returned a moment later with her cell phone in hand. “He sent me this text earlier, and it totally sounded like he knew about us. You said you would tell him last week…”
    “I say a lot of things,” Reed muttered. “But I didn’t tell him. I kept chickening out.” He sighed. “Can I read the text?”
    She handed him the phone without a word. Reed skimmed the message, then heaved out another sigh, this one weary as hell. “I think he was talking about the self-defense class, Darce. About the workshop working out, not you and me working out.”
    She was stricken. “Crap. Oh crap. I’m such an idiot.” A strangled noise popped out of her mouth. “The only reason I let this happen was because I thought I had his approval.”
    Reed arched a brow. “That’s the only reason?”
    She slowly shook her head. “No, it wasn’t just that. I wanted you. I won’t pretend I didn’t.” Her throat dipped as she visibly swallowed. “I still want you.”
    His throat tightened. “I still want you, too.”
    The confession jerked his cock to attention, as if the big guy wanted to voice his agreement. Christ. Ten minutes ago, he’d come so hard he’d seen black spots, and his dick was still nowhere near satisfied.
    The memories of Darcy’s beautiful naked body flashed through his mind, taunting him. Her silky skin, endless curves, those perfect tits he’d barely even touched. There were still so many things he wanted to do to her, damn it. Flick his tongue over her pale pink nipples, lick the soft swells of her breasts, trail kisses along the flat expanse of her belly. And don’t even get him started on everything he could do south of that delicious border.
    “Look…we’ve already crossed the line,” Darcy said miserably. “We might as well have a fling.”
    His stomach went rigid. “A fling,” he echoed.
    “Do you want to call it something else? A casual affair? A liaison?”
    It didn’t escape him that the word relationship hadn’t made it on her synonym list, but then again, why would it? Reed knew what she thought of him. In Darcy’s eyes, he was a player, a bad boy, a shallow, impulsive man she’d never dream of getting serious with.
    His heart clenched at the discouraging thought. Fine, maybe he’d been that way once upon a time, but over the past few years he’d worked his ass off to break those old destructive habits.
    When he’d first met Darcy, he hadn’t taken one look at her and thought, man, that’s a chick I want to bone . He’d known right away that the woman was special. Everything about her, from her contagious laughter to her sunny demeanor to the way she challenged him, had told him Darcy Grant was someone he could fall in love with.
    But evidently he wasn’t someone she